Royal Mail fined £21m for missed mail delivery targets

LVMH shares rose 12.8 per cent, putting it on track for its biggest one-day gain in almost two years. The results eased concerns about the impact of slowing global growth and tariff wars on the luxury sector, and helped lift France’s CAC 40 index 2.45 per cent.

The world’s largest luxury group said it had seen improvement across all regions over the most recent quarter, except Europe, which suffered from a downturn in tourist spending. It added that trends in Asia excluding Japan, a region encompassed primarily by China, had seen “noticeable improvement”.

Analysts at RBC Capital said that although “question marks remain around the underlying demand trends for soft luxury … some self-help at Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior can improve their trajectories”.

The government is backing a push to boost the financial firepower of the World Bank by issuing bonds to fund companies in developing economies through the City of London.

Baroness Chapman of Darlington, the development minister, will announce plans for the government to bolster development aid without using taxpayer money through the issuance of bonds backed by the World Bank’s private arm, the International Finance Corporation.

Jenny Chapman’s plans involve packaging loans made by the World Bank and issuing debt against them

The bonds, designed to attract private capital, are to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.

• Read in full: UK partners with World Bank on bonds to help developing economies

London’s leading share index was trading flat this morning after a rally in Asian markets on dovish comments from the Federal Reserve failed to move investors.

The FTSE 100 dipped 2.7 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 9,450.07, with little corporate news.

Burberry was the biggest riser, buoyed by a Deutsche Bank upgrade in the week that suggested a “significant turnaround story” and strong results from LVMH, lifted by a recovery in China and an improved performance at its under-pressure fashion & leather goods division.

Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, was the biggest faller after it reported that total net gaming revenue, including its 50 per cent share of BetMGM, rose 6 per cent in the three months to the end of September. Online net gaming revenue, excluding the United States, rose 5 per cent.

Defence stock continued to fall after the Gaza peace deal.

The outsourcing company has been fined £14 million for failing to protect personal data after hackers stole 6.6 million people’s information in a cyberattack in 2023.

The Information Commissioner’s Office said the breach in March 2023 saw the perpetrators access information including pension details and staff records, as well as details that of customers of organisations Capita supported.

The data watchdog said that some cases included sensitive information such as details of criminal records, financial data or so-called special category data, which could include race, religion and sexual orientation.

The body fined Capita £8 million and Capita Pension Solutions a further £6 million.

John Edwards, the information commissioner, said: “Capita failed in its duty to protect the data entrusted to it by millions of people. The scale of this breach and its impact could have been prevented had sufficient security measures been in place.”

Royal Mail is supposed to deliver 93 per cent of its first-class mail within one working day of collection

PIERE BONBON/ALAMY

The communications regulator has fined Royal Mail £21 million for missing its first and second-class mail delivery targets in the past financial year.

It is the third-largest fine ever imposed by Ofcom.

The delivery company delivered 77 per cent of first-class mail and 92.5 per cent of second-class mail on time during the 2024–25 period, Ofcom found. This was short of its respective 93 per cent and 98.5 per cent targets.

Ian Strawhorne, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said: “Millions of important letters are arriving late and people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp. These persistent failures are unacceptable and customers expect and deserve better. Royal Mail must rebuild consumers’ confidence as a matter of urgency. And that means making actual significant improvements, not more empty promises.”

Vets should publish comprehensive price lists and make it easier for pet owners to access cheaper medicines online, the competition regulator has recommended after a two-year inquiry into the sector.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also wanted veterinary surgeries to be clear if they were part of a larger group after its market investigation into the £6.3 billion veterinary services market.

Alongside its provisional report, the regulator has warned that pet owners:

• Were often unaware of the prices of commonly used services and whether their local practices were part of large national chains
• Had no effective way of comparing vet prices when they got a pet or moved areas
• Might be paying twice as much for commonly prescribed medicines from vet practices than they could pay online, amounting to hundreds of pounds more than they need to pay

The CMA began a review into the £2 billion veterinary services market for household pets in September 2023 amid concerns of customers facing above-inflation increases to their bills and rapid consolidation in the industry.

The initial review prompted an “unprecedented” 56,000 responses from pet owners and those working in the sector.

Gold has risen 1.17 per cent to a fresh high of $4,190.47 an ounce on rising expectations of United States rate cuts and buoyed by safe-haven demand after renewed US–China trade tensions.

Bullion, which has gained about 60 per cent so far this year, does well when interest rates are falling or low and during periods of political instability and economic uncertainty.

Silver was up 1.4 per cent at $52.17 after having hit a record of $53.60 on Tuesday, tracking gold’s rally and on tightening supply in the spot market.

The Dutch company, the world’s biggest supplier of computer chip-making equipment, warned that it expected a significant fall in demand from China next year despite reporting better-than-expected third-quarter bookings.

ASML’s net bookings, the most closely watched figure in the industry, were €5.40 billion in the third quarter, compared with analysts’ forecast of €5.36 billion.

Christophe Fouquet, the chief executive, said: “We do not expect 2026 total net sales to be below 2025 … On the other hand, we expect China customer demand, and therefore our China total net sales in 2026 to decline significantly.”

ASML said it would communicate its revised targets in January.

Global stocks clawed back losses today, helped by dovish comments from the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, and upbeat bank earnings on Wall Street, although trade tensions between the United States and China dampened sentiment.

Powell left the door open to further rate cuts on Tuesday and said the end of the central bank’s long-running effort to shrink the size of its holdings might be coming into view.

David Solomon, Goldman Sachs chief executive, reported a 42 per cent rise in third-quarter profits on Tuesday

MICHAEL NAGLE/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

His comments lifted markets slightly and reinforced expectations of more easing this year. The CME Fedwatch tool shows the market thinks there is a 95.7 per cent chance of a quarter-point cut in October and a 94.5 per cent chance of a further reduction in December.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.8 per cent after sliding 2.6 per cent in the previous session and South Korea’s Kospi gained 2.5 per cent. China’s SSE Composite was up 0.2 per cent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up 1.29 per cent. On Wall Street the Dow Jones closed up, but the broader S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended the day down.

The FTSE 100 is forecast to open 41 points, or 0.4 per cent, higher.

President Trump raised tensions with Beijing, saying that Washington was considering terminating some trade ties with China, including in relation to cooking oil. The two nations had begun charging additional port fees on ocean shipping companies that moved everything from holiday toys to crude oil.